The free things are the most expensive!

[Salahmu]

If you're not a producer on the social media then you're likely a product sold to others and that's totally true however some of the guys who understood the algorithm by virtue of intelligency has been advising users of every social media to try as much as possible to make some kind of products to be consumed in the internet hence making themselves useful and getting paid too for using the social medias.

This platforms are best used for marketing and you should always be the producer and not the consumer in every case.

Good thinking but though being a consumer on media could sometimes be equivalent to the producers in business reasoning because for the fact that some people sees an items on the media and want to purchase them even if they have not taken a physical look at it before buying is because the price they gave them online and the ones they gave them physical are not the same because the media product is less in price for them, so they turn it into business of buying and selling on the social media and making a lot of profit, I no you must have an idea of what I'm saying, so actually consumers and producers are the same on that perspective.

[tygeade]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

They offer services and pleasure that we certainly get but on the other hand they get benefits in terms of traffic and of course the privacy that we have for now is actually very difficult so in this case we cannot deny that there is a price that is appropriate or that must be paid when we really want something.

It is a business that is sometimes not realized for them, especially lay people who sometimes say that everything in the form of free services like this without conditions but in the end we realize that apart from our privacy, we also end up becoming an object because after all for now we as internet users and users of several applications like the ones you mentioned have become an object for their benefit in the business that is done so even though we consider some search engines or social media free but in the end we ourselves are the ones who provide benefits for the business they are developing.

The thing that people need to realize is that they are not doing something shady, not something illegal. Just because you are sharing your own stuff online, doesn't mean they shouldn't use it, they are free to use whatever you upload there. It could be your thoughts and ideas on twitter, it could be your food or images on Instagram, or it could be some sort of short videos on tiktok, doesn't matter.

These companies are offering you a free service like you said which means they need to make money some way, so marketing is the only way. The only illegal part, would be anything like Cambridge Analytica type of thing, if anyone abuses it then it is going to be a trouble and will shape the future of the world to highest bidder, that is the only bad.

[mrongos]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

They offer services and pleasure that we certainly get but on the other hand they get benefits in terms of traffic and of course the privacy that we have for now is actually very difficult so in this case we cannot deny that there is a price that is appropriate or that must be paid when we really want something.

It is a business that is sometimes not realized for them, especially lay people who sometimes say that everything in the form of free services like this without conditions but in the end we realize that apart from our privacy, we also end up becoming an object because after all for now we as internet users and users of several applications like the ones you mentioned have become an object for their benefit in the business that is done so even though we consider some search engines or social media free but in the end we ourselves are the ones who provide benefits for the business they are developing.

The thing that people need to realize is that they are not doing something shady, not something illegal. Just because you are sharing your own stuff online, doesn't mean they shouldn't use it, they are free to use whatever you upload there. It could be your thoughts and ideas on twitter, it could be your food or images on Instagram, or it could be some sort of short videos on tiktok, doesn't matter.

These companies are offering you a free service like you said which means they need to make money some way, so marketing is the only way. The only illegal part, would be anything like Cambridge Analytica type of thing, if anyone abuses it then it is going to be a trouble and will shape the future of the world to highest bidder, that is the only bad.

The practise of sharing information and sharing opinion over social media can be considered as a norm in the present society. It is written in the nature of the internet that everything that we post online is open for the public domain; they are free to access, utilise or even misuse. Any service that operates for free generally has working strategies on how the it will continue to run, the data we give out is precious. Until such a time that its usage reaches a point where it is detrimental to society, it should not be a cause for concern. That which is worrying is the use of such data for a negative agenda or if it is altered in any way without permission. Thus, openness of the managers who handle such information is something that defines how the context of the digital world will evolve.

[Scarlett_23]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

I think we don't get anything for free. We have to pay in various ways to internet service providers. And without an internet connection we can't access Google, TikTok or Facebook. We have to pay for an internet connection. Now let's talk about how we use free apps or websites. In general, it may seem that we use them without paying, but in reality, we use them for a fee. Because we spend a lot of time here. One of the sources of income for social media is the user's time and data. They arrange their entire system in such a way that a person cannot easily get out of Facebook or TikTok even if they want to. If a user thinks that he will use Facebook or TikTok for ten minutes, he will never understand when he will exceed an hour and a half. In this way, the more the user scrolls, the more the income system of social media expands.
And during these one and a half hours, they will earn money by showing you a lot of ads.

[Unknown Op]

If you're not a producer on the social media then you're likely a product sold to others and that's totally true however some of the guys who understood the algorithm by virtue of intelligency has been advising users of every social media to try as much as possible to make some kind of products to be consumed in the internet hence making themselves useful and getting paid too for using the social medias.

This platforms are best used for marketing and you should always be the producer and not the consumer in every case.

Good thinking but though being a consumer on media could sometimes be equivalent to the producers in business reasoning because for the fact that some people sees an items on the media and want to purchase them even if they have not taken a physical look at it before buying is because the price they gave them online and the ones they gave them physical are not the same because the media product is less in price for them, so they turn it into business of buying and selling on the social media and making a lot of profit, I no you must have an idea of what I'm saying, so actually consumers and producers are the same on that perspective.

We are watching ads on Social media and media channels and they are selling the products to us. We are buying the products because we have no time to buy products physically. But we should be product owner then we will be best in the market. Many small businesses are started and they are selling products online because that is vast platform and you have thousands of people for which you made the product. Facebook is best platform to market your product and you should be leader in the market, not follower . Tik Tok is also wonderful platform to promote products and services and stars are getting benefits of that .Because got proposal from different companies and they are marketing and they are earning good.

[Oluwa-btc]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

On the contrary are there any free things anymore because everything is being paid for this days including the air that we breathe and water we drink as well nothing is free any longer and it baffles me, so if of all the things these that I mentioned ain't free so how would just an internet provider not be paid for, so this is why they are so expensive because of the wide range of usage and time wasted. Moreso everything free becomes expensive this days cause of the advantages of getting a profits.

[Ever-young]

On the contrary are there any free things anymore because everything is being paid for this days including the air that we breathe and water we drink as well nothing is free any longer and it baffles me, so if of all the things these that I mentioned ain't free so how would just an internet provider not be paid for, so this is why they are so expensive because of the wide range of usage and time wasted. Moreso everything free becomes expensive this days cause of the advantages of getting a profits.

How exactly do we pay for the air that we breath am just curious to know because it’s completely a free gift of nature it’s only when some have some health issue that they are being charged for oxygen in a medical centre if air are to be paid for the population of the world would not have been up to the number that it’s today, the rich could have purchased them all.

[Renampun]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

sadly active users of social media such as facebook, tiktok and other popular ones do not really care about their privacy data, currently there are several decentralized but unattractive social media platforms on the market.

I have been using duckduckgo since there was news that google was selling data to advertisers (sounds like a conspiracy), people who do not respect their privacy are delicious food for capitalists.

[mihaybus]

sadly active users of social media such as facebook, tiktok and other popular ones do not really care about their privacy data

Hey, great question! I’m curious—why should the average user even worry about their personal data on Facebook? For most people, it’s just a platform to like photos, chat with friends, and share updates. They’re not doing anything “sensitive,” so why bother stressing over data privacy?

[WatChe]

sadly active users of social media such as facebook, tiktok and other popular ones do not really care about their privacy data, currently there are several decentralized but unattractive social media platforms on the market.

I have been using duckduckgo since there was news that google was selling data to advertisers (sounds like a conspiracy), people who do not respect their privacy are delicious food for capitalists.

The decentralised platforms are unpopular just because they don't have huge money to invest on there marketing. This is also a sad reality that people despite knowing the fact that social media platforms like facebook are using and selling our data, we still actively use these platform and willingly provide our personal data for there benefits. 

duckduckgo is great browser that focus on data privacy by not tracking it's users. The reason why duckduckgo is still at back seat while google chrome and firefox are at driving seat is because the majority of users don't care about data privacy.

[fuguebtc]

sadly active users of social media such as facebook, tiktok and other popular ones do not really care about their privacy data, currently there are several decentralized but unattractive social media platforms on the market.

I have been using duckduckgo since there was news that google was selling data to advertisers (sounds like a conspiracy), people who do not respect their privacy are delicious food for capitalists.

The decentralised platforms are unpopular just because they don't have huge money to invest on there marketing. This is also a sad reality that people despite knowing the fact that social media platforms like facebook are using and selling our data, we still actively use these platform and willingly provide our personal data for there benefits. 

duckduckgo is great browser that focus on data privacy by not tracking it's users. The reason why duckduckgo is still at back seat while google chrome and firefox are at driving seat is because the majority of users don't care about data privacy.

The important thing is what data are they collecting and does that data actually pose a threat to the safety or , more seriously, the lives of users?  I don't think it's that serious, what they collect is just preferences, daily needs and they use them for advertising purposes for products that users need. In return , users will be able to use those apps without any additional costs. That's not fair enough ?


Another thing is that they don't force us to use their services and they are also clear about data collection in their terms of service. It's just that we are too lazy to read and start blaming when we hear they are collecting our data,  and they are not forcing us, we have the right not to use their services.

Many people complain about these companies collecting their data but what I still wonder is do these people really care about their data or do they just see others saying so and follow?

[Juicyhome]

Most people that prefer online free classes for a course or skills on YouTube and ignored physical training in the name of expenses. They think getting it online for free is better than paying first and attending physical class end up spending much money in buying data to watch the video on yourtube than what they asked them to pay for physical class.

There is nothing that's free on earth, it's either someone else paid for it to be free or you will pay for it indirectly. One have to be guided when applying for a free course on-line.  Let not be that you will end paying much than expected. No one would like to made something that will benefit you free.

[ovcijisir]

I never payed for anything to google, so their services don't cost me directly. But a thing is, when you buy something online over ads, the seller must rise the cost of product to pay for the google ad.

So you lose money indirectly by paying higher cost that includes marketing expenses.

[Mehmet69]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

Of course. In the age of the internet, if I don't pay for a product, I am the product. That's 100% true. Currently, when using YouTube, they ask for a fee to make it ad-free. If we pay, the ad will be blocked for a certain period of time. But is this the end? Are they happy with this small amount? No, this is just the beginning. We think we are using YouTube for free. But to use Google, YouTube or other online platforms, we first have to buy data. After that, we can access it. In this way, we have become a means of earning money for others every moment.

[Kelward]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

In the context of the phrase " the free things are the most expensive" I would have thought you will be talking about, water, air, oxygen and the rest of the free things God created for mankind. However in addressing the free things you listed, they are basically not free, these are people's businesses you mentored, for you to use their facility, you have to pay for it, those apps were not invented from the beginning to be use on free bases, for the inventor to build it and put it on the app store, he definitely paid for it to be there, so you the end user too will have to pay for it.

I had the same perception too when I saw the subject of the thread, I was thinking that what the OP meant by 'free' was things that we don't pay for like air, rain water and so on. They are free but patients on life support pays for it and water can cost a fortune on a dry desert. Clearly what he meant was social media, that what we view for free are actually expensive but I think that is not true. Firstly social media platforms are people's businesses and they're in business to give services and make profit. Besides I don't think that social media is expensive, data subscriptions is what gives you access and it doesn't cost a fortune. Because data is not expensive compared to physical places where the rich and poor can go and socialize that is why it's very popular and many people visits it's different platforms everyday.

[stomachgrowls]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

I think we don't get anything for free. We have to pay in various ways to internet service providers. And without an internet connection we can't access Google, TikTok or Facebook. We have to pay for an internet connection. Now let's talk about how we use free apps or websites. In general, it may seem that we use them without paying, but in reality, we use them for a fee. Because we spend a lot of time here. One of the sources of income for social media is the user's time and data. They arrange their entire system in such a way that a person cannot easily get out of Facebook or TikTok even if they want to. If a user thinks that he will use Facebook or TikTok for ten minutes, he will never understand when he will exceed an hour and a half. In this way, the more the user scrolls, the more the income system of social media expands.
And during these one and a half hours, they will earn money by showing you a lot of ads.

Thats the literal part but this is really just that common sense on which the resources that you are using on accessing the internet alone do already shows up that you are already having the expense with those ISP's and on the time or moment that even using up your own mobile phone and needed up to be charged then thats already an expenses to electricity cost. It is really that on the surface part on which people doesnt mind much but if we do speak about on spending something then there's really that we are really that been using. For those platforms on which been used on posting our pictures and others then it might look free but we are actually the products of the said companies or platforms. Majority of people wont really be that minding much into the things that they've been uploading online on which as long they can be able to have enjoyment then that what matter most.

The important thing on here is that you do really need up to make out some exemptions when it comes to those things on which it is really that excessive in terms of privacy and in terms of on other personal information. We do know the risks that once these things been exposed then we do really know on what are the potential problems. This is why it will really be best that you do really know your limitations on dealing up with things accordingly. There are really such conditions on which you will be needing up to be mindful about your actions.

[SmartCharpa]

do people really care much on how there data is being used? people visits the different social media platforms for different reason and the least of their concern is to consider how much platforms like Facebook, twitter or tiktok makes off their data per year. there is nothing even wrong if you are considered the product in the context of the usage of social media users data for the gains of the owner of the platform. it is a two way thing, you enjoy the things you see on the platform and maybe share your own content while you are being paid for the content while the owners of the platform on the other receiving end get their own royalty.

it is all business in the end and that is the reason why you should never waste your time on social media if you are not earning from it or at least using it to market something or use it to do something that gets you paid. in a digital age like ours, everyone ought to have the ability to also benefit from these platforms and not just register with them just to make the numbers.

Not all social media users are concerned about how their data is being used, some only use Facebook and TikTok to watch videos that waste their free time. Even if you log in to any kind of social media once a day, the owner gets paid for it. We have no idea how much money the data we waste makes for them; and they didn't just create an online platform for people to make money.

I believe that wasting time on social media if we are not making money is useless. If we keep wasting our data without making any money, the platforms are profiting while we get nothing in return. We must be smart to see the advantages of social media in today's world. As you stated, it's something that goes two ways; some people profit from social media, like those influencers, while others purely enjoy what's posted on the internet.

[ovcijisir]

do people really care much on how there data is being used? people visits the different social media platforms for different reason and the least of their concern is to consider how much platforms like Facebook, twitter or tiktok makes off their data per year. there is nothing even wrong if you are considered the product in the context of the usage of social media users data for the gains of the owner of the platform. it is a two way thing, you enjoy the things you see on the platform and maybe share your own content while you are being paid for the content while the owners of the platform on the other receiving end get their own royalty.

it is all business in the end and that is the reason why you should never waste your time on social media if you are not earning from it or at least using it to market something or use it to do something that gets you paid. in a digital age like ours, everyone ought to have the ability to also benefit from these platforms and not just register with them just to make the numbers.

Not all social media users are concerned about how their data is being used, some only use Facebook and TikTok to watch videos that waste their free time. Even if you log in to any kind of social media once a day, the owner gets paid for it. We have no idea how much money the data we waste makes for them; and they didn't just create an online platform for people to make money.

I believe that wasting time on social media if we are not making money is useless. If we keep wasting our data without making any money, the platforms are profiting while we get nothing in return. We must be smart to see the advantages of social media in today's world. As you stated, it's something that goes two ways; some people profit from social media, like those influencers, while others purely enjoy what's posted on the internet.

I share your opinion on social media, that it is mostly wasteful. But small part of social media can be useful, for example groups for learning foreign language, or groups that share same hobby or business interest.

The problem is that social media is designed in such way that it forces your attention to it with new information, and as a consequence people dedicate more time to it they originally planned.

Users are not concerned about sharing their data because it doesn't influence them directly and they don't know consequences of sharing their personal information.

[Mate2237]

One thing that we need to know in life is that there is nothing that is free every thing that we see in life has it own price so the sooner you realize this the better for you because alot of people have fallen victim to this thinking that things that they see around them are free and and regretted later when they realize that what they even consider free is even more costly that the one that is not free.


Any thing that is free is a poison that we need to be careful of because in nature everything has it own price tag that is associated with it, infact we should grow beyond having free things in mind because it's not even a good thing to do things that are free because it doesn't help us to grow as a person

[JiiBs]

Google and TikTok may seem free, but every click and scroll you make gets packaged into a "user profile" and sold to advertisers. Take Facebook, for example—it makes about $50 per user per year just from their data. In the internet age, if you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

I don’t see how you as an individual could be made the product.

Even services like the ones you e mentioned are products that are bought and sold. Of course it’s never free, you pay for internet and you use the internet to access these services. They collect their tariff from the clicks and that’s payment. No one says it’s free but, it’s offered at a fair price that you don’t even notice. You just enjoy the services they provide and that’s it. For some monetized pages in some social medias, you get to pay to access certain features. It’s just a new world and how it works.